mazon, Amazone

[In Sw. & Dan. Amazon; Dut., Ger., & Fr. Amazone; Sp. and Port. Amazon a; Ital. Amazzone; Lat. Amazon; Gr. ̓Αμαζών ( Amazon ): from a = without, and μαζός (mazos) = the breast, from the story that the Amazons cut off their right breast to prevent its interfering with the use of the bow.] 1. A nation on the river Thermodon, the modern Termeh in Pontus, in Asia Minor, said to consist entirely of women renowned as warriors. Men were excluded from their territory, and commerce was held only with strangers, whilst all male children born among them were killed. They are mentioned by Homer. Diodorus also speaks of a race of Amazons in Africa. "Glanced at the legendary Amazon As emblematic of a nobler age. Tennyson: The Prince , ii. 2. A bold, masculine woman; a virago. "When I see the avenues of the Strand beset every night with troops of fierce Amazons , who, with dreadful imprecations, stop, and beat and plunder pa engers, I cannot help wishing that such martial talents were converted to the benefit of the public."-Goldsmith: E ays; Female Warriors. "Yet are Spain's maids no race of Amazons , But form'd for all the 'witching arts of love." Byron: Childe Harold , i, 57. 3. Plural : (a) The females of an Indian tribe on the banks of the great river Maranon, in South America, who a isted their husbands when fighting against the Spaniards, and caused the Maranon to receive the new name of the Amazon. ( Garcila o , p. 606.) AMAZONS OF THE KING OF DAHOMEY'S GUARD. (b) Any female soldiers, such as the band of female warriors kept by the King of Dahomey in Africa. 4. Entom.: Huber's name for the neuters of a red ant ( Polyergus ), which are accustomed to sally forth in large numbers from their nests, in military array, and proceeding to some neighbouring anthill belonging to another species, plunder it of the larvæ of its neuters. These, when hatched, become a kind of pariah caste in the habitation of the Amazons.